


Our Forbidden Happily Ever After

by chaeyoo24



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, mina!snowwhite, sana!rapunzel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 02:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14034435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaeyoo24/pseuds/chaeyoo24
Summary: This wasn’t meant to happen. When Sana and Mina were chosen to be the heroines of their fairytales, they were supposed to fall in love with dashing princes and have a happily ever after. They were supposed to forget their old life and wait for their princes to save them. Falling in love with each other was not part of the plan. So why does it feel so right?





	1. Fast Asleep

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired from Fairytales with Sana as Rapunzel and Mina as Snow White :)

Two-red capped towers spiraled into the sky from the elegant castle, a royal blue banner bearing the words _Hero Academy_ strung between them. Reflected in the dark, glazed surface of the Bottomless Lake was the star-spangled sky and drifting clouds. Though the sun had already gone to rest behind the horizon, a hazy pink glow lingered in the air.

It was a beautiful sight, but Sana was in no mood to appreciate beauty. The gusts of wind had upset her prized possession- her hair. What usually looked like a shimmering golden bun artfully arranged on the top of her head now just looked like a mass of straw from the barn. What’s more, her slippers were covered in mud, and she was shivering from the chilly air.

“This is all _your_ fault,” she said.

“ _My_ fault?” said Mina. “What did _I_ do? You were the one who was prowling around the woods after curfew looking all suspicious!”

“Oh yeah? And you decided to follow me, _why?_ ”

Mina blushed and muttered, “I just wanted to see what you were up to.” That was a lie; she knew that Sana was constantly exploring and trying to dig up new adventures. Mina preferred to follow the rules, and she generally avoided areas like the woods, but she couldn’t help being fascinated by Sana. Maybe it was the other girl’s naturally curious nature, or the way her eyes seemed to change color in different lighting, or her mischievous smile…

“I asked you a question,” Sana said crossly. “Are you going to answer or not?”

Mina snapped out of her reverie. “Huh?”

“Forget it. We need to find a way through the gate or over the wall.”

Mina followed Sana as they trampled through the briars of the forest, both girls knowing full well that there was no way back into Hero Academy. The gate closed after curfew, and the walls were smooth and entirely free of footholds. One side of the castle had no wall, but it was protected by the Bottomless Lake, which was filled with nameless deformed monsters, and merpeople that drowned any boat that came near its dark water.

The two girls stopped at the gate and stood looking at the castle. Mina spoke first, “I guess…I guess we should find somewhere to spend the night.”

“Ugh!” Sana kicked the gate in frustration. “What am I going to do? Tomorrow’s the Choosing Ceremony and I haven’t even picked out my dress!” The Choosing Ceremony was what every girl and boy at the Hero Academy was waiting for. It was when each person was assigned to a fairytale. Most people aimed towards being a sidekick or villager or helpful animal, but that wasn’t good enough for Sana. No, her ambition was to be a princess. And if she wanted to be chosen, she had to make a good impression, which meant she couldn’t show up in a ragged dress and messy hair. She glanced at Mina. Maybe they’d get the same storyworld by some miracle. Mina was naïve, and always nosing about or following Sana around, but it would be a shame never to see her shining face and crabapple cheeks, or hear her voice, ever again.

Mina, like every other girl, still harbored secret hope that she would be chosen to be a ravishing princess rescued by a handsome prince. But she knew that she would most likely be chosen to be a nameless side character. Maybe she’d at least get assigned to Sana’s storyworld. Then she’d get to watch while Sana was swept off her feet by her true love, and got her happily ever after in the form of a tall, handsome prince. The thought wasn’t really appealing. She sighed dejectedly.

Lost in their thoughts, the two girls sat against an old oak tree, Sana was starting to feel tired, a haze settling over her mind. She shifted in the damp grass. The tree bark was rough against her head and scratched the back of her neck, so different from her satin pillowcase back in the castle. She rested her head on Mina’s shoulder instead. The other girl was soft and warm, and her hair smelled like strawberries, and surely Sana could fall asleep like this, but for some reason she wanted to stay awake. But sleep got the best of her, and within five minutes both girls were fast asleep.


	2. The Choosing Ceremony

“Does my hair look good?”

“Do these shoes match my dress?”

“I don’t know if I should go with the rose print, or the solid red…”

Girls were bustling all over the dorm rooms and bathrooms, painting their faces, doing their hair, and twirling about in their most beautiful dresses. Sana was wearing a deep pink gown and elegant, elbow-length white gloves. Her hair was pinned up so it wouldn’t sweep the floor, but in such a way that it still showed off its length and luscious beauty. She took a deep breath, trying not to pace. She didn’t notice she was pressing her nails into her hand until blackish blood trickled down her palm.

“Minari!” She spotted the other girl in the crowd and pushed through the group of girls showing off their slippers. Mina turned to face her. She was gorgeous and adorable as always, with her shining face, round red cheeks, and shoulder-length, wavy black hair.

“Are you n-nervous?” Mina stuttered.

“Nah,” Sana lied. “Are you?”

Mina didn’t speak, just nodded fervently.

“Don’t be. You’re beautiful.” Unthinkingly, Sana brushed a stand of hair away from Mina’s face. Mina stumbled back, startled.

“I’m sorry―” Sana began, but the other girl ran off into the crowd before she could say anything else. She sighed and let her hand drop. Why did it matter? Soon, they’d be in different storyworlds, and never see each other again. Feeling hollow, she walked away.

*    *    *    *    *

“Chosen to be the hero of _Jack and the Beanstalk is_ … WANG JACKSON!”

Jackson smirked and took a dramatic bow as he walked up to the stage. Sana couldn’t even muster an eye roll at his theatrics. She tapped the armrest of her seat, heart pounding.

One by one, each person was called up to the stage. From villains to villagers, from henchmen to heroes, frogs to dwarves, everyone got a role. Finally the announcer called out:

“Princes of _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves…_ MYOUI MINA!”

Shocked, Mina stumbled to her feet. She walked up to the stage as if in a dream, passing girls who all looked jealous or impressed. She looked back at Sana, who whistled loudly.

More people were called, until…

“Lead Female of _Rapunzel…_ MINATOZAKI SANA!”

Dazed, Sana stood.

As she walked up to the stage, poised and elegant, everything was perfect. The admiring faces. Her ball gown sweeping to the carpet. The spotlight following her to the stage. Dim applause from the crowds, and the row of dashing princes on the stage, one of whom would be her groom. She was set to become the princess of her own fairytale. Many girls would kill to be her.

Everything was perfect. So why did she feel so hollow?


	3. Trapped

This fairytale wasn’t going exactly as Sana had expected.

Right outside her window, there was a vast forest, filled with tangled dark greenery, rushing waterfalls, and snow-capped mountains in the distance. Yet here she was, trapped inside her tower, with nowhere to go and nothing to do except paint, read dull books, and play the harp. According to the new memories that she had acquired once she stepped into this storyworld, she was here because her mom had cravings for a plant called rapunzel when she was pregnant. Because he loved her dearly, her husband stole the rapunzel from an enchantress’ garden, but he was caught, and had to sell his firstborn child to the enchantress.

In other words, Sana had been traded for a vegetable.

Listless, she sat down on her windowsill and waited for the call that would surely come any moment now.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Hastily unfastening her braided tresses, she wound them around a hook next to the window, and let them fall like a waterfall of spun gold down to the floor. In a few moments, the enchantress had climbed up her locks, and crawled through the small window that was the only entrance or exit to the tower.

“My dearest child,” said the enchantress fondly. “Tell me how goes your day.”

And so passed the days, which Sana spent singing or daydreaming, then letting down her hair for the kind old enchantress. She grew restless, frustrated; never in her life had she been cooped up somewhere so long, like a bird in a cage.

Her prince had better hurry up, because she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could stand.

*    *    *    *    *

Meanwhile, Mina shivered in the dark. Far from happening too slowly, her fairytale had taken a twist that she disliked very much.

An owl swooped over her head and she shrieked, leaves crackling under her boots. If only Sana were here.

Mina, upon being transported to her fairytale, found out that her mother, a queen, had died in childbirth, leaving her to live with an evil stepmother. Though wicked, the stepmother was so beautiful, like a dream. Her luscious dark brown locks cascaded to her waist, her waist squeezed into a sequined, ruffled dark green dress. She looked like someone you’d only find in a painting.

Mina still couldn’t quite get used to her own appearance. She had always been pale, but not her skin was milky white and clear of any freckles, blemishes, or acne. Her wavy dark hair had transformed into sleek tresses as black as ebony, and her lips were full and freakishly bright red, and she wasn’t wearing any lipstick, either. She looked like a vampire princess, and she wasn’t sure how much she liked that.

She had thought maybe she’d get lucky, and a prince would find her in her castle and take her away before any conflict with her stepmother arose. Instead, here she was, freezing and lost in the woods with nowhere to go, and no prince in sight.

It had all started when her stepmother uttered the same words she said every day. _Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?_

Usually the mirror would say, _You, my queen, are fairest of all._

This time, it uttered the words, _You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you._

And the beauty-obsessed queen had ordered a huntsman to take Mina to the woods and kill her. Fortunately, she had chosen a naïve huntsman, a clean-shaven youth who whistled as he walked. The light of his oil lamp shone buttery yellow on his butcher’s knife, which he swung by his side. Mina had only to stroke his ego a little and plead for mercy, and he put away that dread knife. “She will probably be killed by wild animals anyway,” she had heard him muttering as he walked away, leaving her in the forest. Not a very comforting thought.

Now, she began to run. Sharp stones punctured her boots and thorns tore at her dress, but still she ran. A few times, she thought she saw yellow eyes glowing in the dark, or heard a rustling from the bushes. The dark woods seemed to be closing in on her, suffocating her. And still no prince. “HELP ME!” she shouted, stumbling over rocks, but she was answered by silence. There was no way out of this fairytale, or rather, nightmare.

She was trapped.


	4. Let Down Your Hair

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Sana frowned. Outside, the sun burned hot white in the sky, but the enchantress usually only came home after sunset. Nevertheless, she unfastened her hair, wound it around the hook, and let it fall. She felt a tug on her hair, and through the window climbed a prince.

“Finally,” said Sana. “It’s awfully dull in this tower, alone all day.”

“Forgive me for asking, but who are you, my love?” the prince asked. “I only heard you singing, and yesterday I saw the enchantress bid you let down your hair. You are so beautiful it is as if I am looking at an angel.”

  
“You’re quite the charmer,” Sana said. Maybe this prince thing could work out after all. Were all of them this nice? “I am the so-called Rapunzel, but call me Sana.”

“Prince Mark,” said the strange man, and he took her hand and kissed it. His itchy stubble scratched her skin. “Who is this awful woman keeping you inside this tower?”

“I love her, and she is like a mother to me,” Sana said defensively. “It is just that she is so overprotective. She wants to shield me from the whole world. She thinks I would run away if I had the chance. And maybe I would, but I would come back to her.”

“My father was like that once,” Prince Mark said, nodding. “He wouldn’t let me out of the castle after my mother died, for fear I would leave him too. But I am old enough now that I may go wherever I wish.”

“And if you could be anywhere in the world right now,” said Sana, “where would you be?”

“Why I would be right here with you, my love,” said Prince Mark. Sana smiled coyly. They continued to talk until the sun began to set and the prince had to leave. He left right in time to escape the enchantress.

The next day Sana was expecting her prince to visit her again, but a different voice called.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

The person who climbed through the window was not an enchantress, or a dashing prince, but a raven-haired girl with crabapple cheeks and a dashing smile. “I came to visit!” Mina said. Sana hugged her and they exchanged stories of their fairytales. Mina had found a cabin with seven friendly dwarves who she was living with. “I understand why my storyworld’s called _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ now.” she said. “It’s kind of crowded. I hope my prince comes soon. Do you think I’ll have a castle?” Sana felt hot jealousy when Mina talked about her prince, but she pushed the feeling aside and talked about the enchantress and her parents instead.

“You can’t happen to bring a rope, can you?” Sana asked. “I’m sick of being cooped up in this tower all day. We can go in the woods, explore…Just like old times in the Hero Academy.” Already their memories of that place were slipping. Before long, they would know themselves only as their fairytale characters, and they wouldn’t remember anything of their old life.

“I don’t know…” Mina said nervously. “I’m already breaking the rules by being here. Don’t you think it might mess up our fairytales or something?”

“Come on!” said Sana. “I can’t stand it in here. As long as we don’t run into any of the other characters, we’ll be fine.”

“I guess.” Mina left, with the promise of bringing rope the next day, and soon after Prince Mark came to visit. Then he left and the enchantress came. _I have a lot of visitors these days,_ Sana thought to herself.

The next day, she lowered herself down using the hook and the rope Mina brought, and they spent a beautiful day exploring the lush greenery, mossy knolls, and dark, ice cold water that glimmered like gold in the sunlight. The sun was beginning to set when the two girls walked back to Sana’s tower.

“Maybe we can do that again sometime.” Sana said.

But Mina shook her head sadly, “We have to move on now. It’s time for our stories to dictate our lives. We’ll find our princes and get our happily ever after.”

The thought should have made Sana happy. “When I look at the future…” she said. “All I can see is you.”

Mina froze. “W-what? You can’t say that. Our princes―”

“Aren’t here now,” Sana shushed her. “You are my princess, Minari. Can’t you see that?”

Mina should have run away or berated Sana. She should have stepped away. Her heart was pounding so loud she couldn’t hear herself think, blood rushing to her head. She didn’t run. Instead, she stepped forward.

For a moment, all they could hear was each other’s breathing. Then their lips touched. As the sun set, they held each other close. Rapunzel and Snow White. Sana and Mina. A girl and her princess. It was a forbidden happily ever after, but it was there. It lasted a few seconds that seemed like forever, a beautiful instant, one sweet kiss, and it was gone. They were back to their stories. But for them, this was their fairytale.


	5. True Love's Whatever

But fairytales only last so long. Both girls pulled away from their kiss and ran away, scared of what this meant.

Happily ever afters, as Sana had learned, didn’t happen for people like her. Her whole life she had grown up reading fairytales, dreaming of the day she would get her own. Except that in her mind, Sana was always the prince.

What could she do now? Return to her tower and meet her prince again? Delude herself into thinking that she was happy?

She climbed back into the tower. Mina couldn’t be her princess. It was impossible. It was unheard of. But as she drifted off to sleep that night, she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss.

*    *    *    *    *

Mina didn’t know how she felt about the kiss. She kept reliving that moment in her head-the soft sounds of breathing, the specks of gold in Sana’s eyes that Mina could see as the both leaned in, hesitant and afraid. She wanted to live in that moment forever. But they had to move on. The problem was that, if not for the kiss, both girls would forget about each other. Every fairytale character forgot about the Hero Academy and everyone in it eventually. But now that they had kissed, the memory of Sana was etched in her brain forever, and another story had begun, even if it was left unwritten. In other words, there was no going back. And when she marries her prince, Mina would be dreaming about her princess, always knowing that the story could have gone in a different direction if she hadn’t been afraid to take it there.

She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear the rapping on the door.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” a voice croaked out.

Mina stuck her head out of the window. “I am sorry, ma’am, but I am not allowed to let anyone in while the dwarves are out mining,” she said. “They forbade it.”

“That is all right with me,” said the old woman. “I am only trying to get rid of my apples. Don’t worry,” she added with a kind smile. “They are not poisoned. Look.” She split an apple in half and bit the green half. Then she offered the red portion to Mina.

Mina hadn’t eaten fruit for days and days, and the apple looked so tempting. It was dark red and shiny, and the inside was white and crisp, dripping with juice. Surely, the dwarves would let her take an apple from an innocent, kindly old woman. She hadn’t opened the door, so she wasn’t really breaking any rules. She accepted the piece of apple gladly.

“Thank you so much,” she gushed. “I haven’t eaten anything fresh in so long. It’s all just meat and porridge. The dwarves I live with me are very generous, and I am extremely grateful, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been craving fruits and vegetables for a while.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” said the woman. She smiled again, her dark eyes crinkling. “Enjoy your apple. In fact, if you like it, you can take the whole basket.”

“You are so kind,” said Mina. She bit into the apple eagerly, tasting the burst of sweetness and tart aftertaste. Red juice dripped down her chin.

She had barely swallowed the bite of the apple when everything went black.

*    *    *    *    *

The next day, Prince Mark came to Sana’s tower again.

“My dear princess―” he began, bowing deeply.

Sana shushed him. “No need for pleasantries,” she said. “I think we’re past that point. Say, dear prince, how would like to marry me?”

“M-marry you?” Prince Mark reddened slightly. “I believer, er, that in such cases, it is, um, customary for the man to ask the woman for her hand―”

“In that case,” Sana said impatiently, “why don’t you go ahead and ask me?” _Let’s get this over with,_ she thought. She _wasn’t_ going to get her happy ending with Mina, so she might as well get this fairytale thing done with.

“Oh,” said Prince Mark. His posture relaxed and color disappeared from his face. “Yes. Ahem.” He cleared his throat and bowed down on one knee. “My dear Sana, you are beautiful like the sky and all the stars. I love you more than anything in the world. May I take your hand in marriage, so that you can be my princess forever?”

“I’d be happy to, Mark,” said Sana. “Now I can finally escape from this tower. Look, I found this rope. We can attach it to the hook and―”

“Please, let me.” Prince Mark took the rope and knotted it on the hook by the window. Then he took Sana in his arms. She leaned forward and kissed him. It felt empty and strange and the prince’s lips were coarse and it was nothing like kissing Mina. “I love you,” she said. Never had she felt so fake in her life.


	6. Kiss Me, Princess

Mina came up coughing and sputtering, waking to the alarmed shouts and gasps. Her head throbbed with pain and her throat burned. She tried to sit up but something was blocking her―glass. Wildly, she clawed at it. _A coffin,_ she realized. _I’m in a coffin._ Then the glass case opened and she found herself staring into a burning chocolate, brown eyes flecked with gold. “Sana?” she whispered.

Sana just shook her head, eyes wide. “Alive again,” she said. “Fairytales are so strange.”

“Er, Prince Bambam, actually. I rescued you.” A lanky, handsome prince pushed in front of Sana. He cleared his throat. “I saw you in the coffin and I thought you were the most beautiful creature imaginable. The dwarves said you were poisoned by an evil queen. I want to take you back to my kingdom.”

“You want to _what?_ ” said Mina incredulously.

“T-take you back to my kingdom,” Prince Bambam stuttered. “You shall be my wife. It is customary.”

Mina rubbed her head. What was happening? One moment she was eating an apple in the dwarves’ cottage, and the next a strange prince was claiming to have rescued her and asking for her hand in marriage. Her eyes widened. Of course. The apple had been poisoned. Was the old woman the queen in disguise, or had she simply been working for the queen? No matter. The question now was what to say to this lanky, not exactly eloquent, stranger. She tried to imagine herself living with him, but when she thought of herself in a wedding dress, it wasn’t a prince next to her. It was a certain enchanting golden-haired girl.

“Sana,” she murmured. “Where’s your prince?”

Sana waved her hand in dismissal. “Here or there,” she said vaguely, avoiding the other girl’s eyes. But Mina saw the bulky diamond ring glittering on her finger.

“You’re engaged.” she said coldly.

Sana’s eyes narrowed. “You ran away from me! What was I supposed to do, rot in the tower for all eternity?”

“Er, excuse me,” said Prince Bambam. “I believe I was asking for this lady’s hand in marriage.”

Mina ignored him. She scrambled up out of her coffin, lurching slightly. Sana tried to catch her and steady her, but Mina pushed the other girl away. “I’m fine,” she snapped, dusting herself off.

“Mina―” Sana pleaded.

“You were saying?” Mina addressed Prince Bambam.

“Ah, yes.” The prince cleared his throat eagerly, “You are more beautiful than, uh, than a jewel. Your eyes are like the mud of the forest. You are―”

Sana cut him off impatiently, “Minari. Listen to me. This ring means nothing.” To prove it, she slipped it off her finger and flung it into the knee-high rubbery yellow grass that surround them. “I don’t care about that, okay? You are my princess. Always.”

Mina looked back and forth between the eager prince and the pleading princess. More than anything, she wanted to take Sana’s hand.

But she had a duty. In the Hero Academy, she had been trained to follow the story, and never question and opportunity for love, whether it came in a form of a frog, a ball invitation, or a stuttering stranger.

It was one thing to sneak away from the Academy to scout out the woods. It was quite another to betray all its most ancient laws, to not only cross fairytales, but to reject a prince.

She stood between them, torn.

“It’s okay,” Sana said quietly. “I understand. Guess I’ll go back to my prince.”

Something Sana had said while they were going to school in the Academy together flashed across her mind. _We’re all just pawns in one of their games. They’ll try to bend you and mold you and make you into their perfect little cardboard cutout,_ she said bitterly. This was after her ex-girlfriend, a princess hopeful, had been expelled from the school for chopping her hair too short and refusing to grow it out. Sure, they had a rocky history, but they still cared about each other. _Don’t you let them change you, Minari,_ Sana had said. _You’re better than that. Maybe one of the only kids in the goddamn school who isn’t trying to be a cutout, or vying for their humanity to be taken away. You’re the only real goddamn princess._

“Wait,” Mina said quietly. Her dark eyes burned like fire.

“Does this mean you’ll marry me?” Prince Bambam said, scratching his head.

“Sorry, Bambam,” said Mina. “I like the princess.”

Sana looked up, eyes wide. Slowly, her lips curved into a smile.

*    *    *    *    *

A glass slipper gleamed in its case, cushioned on a blood red pillow sewn with gold thread.

A slightly crushed green pea was suspended from the top of a different glass case.

In yet another hung a crimson hood and a creamy white nightcap peppered with blue flowers.

In a bluish glass vase was one perfect rose, unnaturally lustrous and sheeny, floating in a few inches of clear water, preserved for all eternity.

The hallway twisted endlessly, swerving off, veering up a few flights of stairs, winding and circling back. Every inch of it was lined with cases, statues, framed photographs… A golden birdcage hanging from the ceiling, a polished lamp, a sword fastened to the wall, a bottle of sea foam labeled _The Little Mermaid…_

Somewhere between all the artifacts stood a stone statue. Two crudely carved girls stood gazing into each other’s eyes, one with a braid that fell to the floor, the other with round cheeks and shoulder-length curls. It wasn’t labeled or tagged, like many of the other artifacts. In fact it was shoved into a corner and covered in a thin film of dust. There were only four words etched at the foot of the statue.

_She is my Princess._


End file.
